By Daniel Greenfield —— Bio and Archives August 6, 2010
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Perhaps it could be that the Obamas, who seem to fancy themselves more along the lines of international celebrities than actual leaders, espouse a different view of sacrifice. When Michelle Obama accompanied her husband to Copenhagen along with best buddy Oprah Winfrey, she billed the trip - an ultimately unsuccessful bid to bring the Olympics to Chicago - as follows: "As much of a sacrifice as people say this is for me or Oprah or the President to come for these few days, so many of you in this room have been working for years to bring this bid home." A quick jaunt to Denmark is a sacrifice? What portraits in courage! The Obama modus operandi is becoming clear. From lavish trips to Spain to reportedly flying Bo, the President's Portuguese water dog, on a separate aircraft to vacation with them in Maine, to a date night in New York City that perhaps cost nearly $100,000, their idea of austerity is really just the lap of luxury, at least for ordinary folks. Incredibly, the Obamas have long portrayed themselves as precisely such commoners. Just this month, Obama told ABC the First Couple is "not that far removed from what most Americans are going through." And that "it was just a few years ago that we had high credit card balances, we had two kids, thinking about college. We had our own retirement accounts, wondering if we were going to be able to get enough assets in there." If that's true, why not select a more appropriate destination like the California coast? The scenery is just as gorgeous as that of Spain, and instead of patronizing a foreign country they would be pumping money into an American economy that desperately needs it. Camp David wouldn't exactly be slumming it, either. A long weekend there would really send a message of responsibility, leadership and compassion. For a couple that has sharply criticized former President George W. Bush so widely, they could stand to follow his example for once and select a more low-key locale, as Bush regularly did in his Texas vacations.But that would be besides the point, because it requires humility and some degree of decency-- qualities that the Obamas simply do not possess, or even understand. Meanwhile his majesty, Prince Hussein himself, was hard at work celebrating his birthday party with the rest of the Chicago Corruptacracy like Valerie Jarrett, and Oprah, and of course more Wagyu beef. With all the hard work the Obamas do, it's a wonder they have any time left for more important things, like golf. And tripling the national deficit so their associates and supporters can bankrupt America. But at least Hillary Clinton showed her generosity by donating a whole 10 dollars to earthquake relief. Between the lavish heavily hyped Clinton wedding, the Obamas' endless parties and vacations, under a cloud of national debt, it's starting to look like pre-Revolutionary France all over again. But not all was well in Chicago. Senator Burris seems once again set to prove that he can find ways to sabotage Obama's plans. This time Burris is sabotaging Obama's plan to hand over his Senate seat to Alex Giannoulias, who has some minor criminal issues hanging over his head. Burris was allowed to keep the Senate seat Blago gave him, in exchange for agreeing to leave. But anyone who's seen Burris be interviewed had to know that wasn't going to happen so easily. Now Burris is talking about running anyway. Which should be raising alarm bells in the White House. Between Rezko, Blago, the Romer resignation, the vacations and the parties-- the Obama Administration is looking more and more like the world's most expensive soap opera.
Daniel Greenfield is a New York City writer and columnist. He is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and his articles appears at its Front Page Magazine site.